Rising car sales not a sign of economic recovery

The first quarter saw the sale of 81,600 new passenger cars, which is 8,700 more as compared to the first quarter of 2002. The public still show a tendency to buy the cheapest cars, whose price does not exceed zł. 35,000. The list of the most commonly bought makes also remained unchanged, with Fiat occupying the number one spot, followed by Skoda, Renault and Toyota, with the sales of the last concern growing incredibly fast. As compared to the first quarter of 2002, Toyota sales grew by 48%, which insiders at tribute to the enormous popularity of its Yaris model, whose price has not changed since last year despite the falling value of the złoty. Volkswagen and Daewoo are the only makes that recorded downward sales - the latter vended only 3,000 vehicles which is 49% less than in last year's Q1. I nsiders claim that growing car sales should not be read as a sign of e conomic recovery, but rather as a reluctance to save money in banks as interest rates are falling. (Rzeczpospolita, p. B3) K.Ż.